Berlikum - Hallumerhoek | Elfstedenpad Hiking Trail: Section 11

After admiring the iconic Koepelkerk church in Berlikum, you get to discover the Het Bildt region. Here you see the straight lines, straight paths and straight roads of picture book polders. Over the centuries, land was reclaimed from the silted-up salt marshes in the wide mouth of the former Middelzee estuary, which once reached as far as Bolsward. In 1505 the completion of the long Oudebildtdijk dike created a vast area of polder land. 

This distinct area of Friesland continues to produce large quantities of top quality potatoes that are used as seed potatoes all over the world. In this region you see both substantial traditional farmhouses and dilapidated workers’ cottages along the dike.    

In the village of Sint Annaparochie, a bronze statue of the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn and Saskia van Uylenburgh in front of the church recalls the celebration of their marriage here. From here you continue to the villages of Vrouwenparochie and Alde Leie and the hamlet of Hallumerhoek where the trail ends.